Needless
to say that the technical developments in aviation arising out of World War I
created a completely new situation at the end of the hostilities, especially
with regard to the safe and rapid transport of goods and persons over prolonged
distances. However, the war had also shown the ugly potential of aviation; it
had therefore become much more evident that this new and now greatly advanced
means of transport required international attention. In addition tothe increase inaircraft, the
commencement of the regular service of international air transport in 1919
rendered apparent the urgent need for some kind of international regulation of
aviation.

Stamp cancel: 28 June 1919

For obvious reasons, the treatment of aviation matters was a
subject at the Paris Peace Conference (Congrès de la Paix) of 1919. At the
suggestion of Albert Roper, Air Expert at the French Cabinet of the
Under-Secretary of State for Aeronautics, France had formally taken up the idea
of international collaboration in aviation matters; the other principal Allied
Powers received it favourably.

Front-page of
the Paris Air Convention

Subsequently, a special Aeronautical Commission of the Peace
Conference, which had its origin in the Inter-Allied Aviation Committee created
in 1917, was formed on 6 March 1919 under the auspices of the Peace Conference.
The countries represented at the Commission were: Belgium, Brazil, the British
Empire, Cuba, France, Greece, Italy, Japan, Portugal, Romania, the Kingdom of
the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, and the United States. At the first meeting, the
Commission agreed to produce a set of basic principles in preparing the
Convention and its Annexes; it established three Sub-Commissions which were
legal, technical, and military. These three were aided by draft conventions
submitted by France, Great Britain, and the United States; Italy submitted a
draft proposal for aerial navigation laws.

In seven months and using the groundwork laid at the 1910 Paris
Diplomatic Conference, this Aeronautical Commission drew up a Convention
Relating to the Regulation of Aerial Navigation, which was signed by 27 States
on 13 October 1919.

This new
Convention (with texts in French, English and Italian) consisted of 43 articles
that dealt with all technical, operational and organizational aspects of civil
aviation and also foresaw the creation of the International Commission for Air
Navigation (ICAN, Commission internationale de
Navigation Aérienne or CINA), under the direction of the
League of Nations, to monitor developments in civil aviation and to propose
measures to States to keep abreast of developments.

At 1 June
1922, fourteen instruments of ratification (the British Empire with its
Dominions counted for 7 States: Great Britain, Australia,
Canada, India, Ireland, New Zeeland, and Union of South-Africa) were deposited
with the French Ministry of the Foreign Affairs; hence, the Convention and ICAN
could enter into force forty days later, that is to say on 11 July 1922. Albert
Roper was instrumental in obtaining those ratifications; he was at the origin
of a series of meetings, which were named at the beginning Conférences
anglo-franco-belges and took later the too broad title of Conférences
aéronautiques internationales. The first eleven of these Conferences were
held between 1920 and 1922 in Paris, London and Brussels until the Convention
came into force. They were made up of staff from the aeronautics
administrations. Those conferences and various other regional
conferences (i.e. The Mediterranean Air Conference, the Baltic and Balkan Air
Conference) were to study problems of detail and practical difficulty which
arose in the operation of international airlines between the various states,
and to report the results to ICAN for action by means of amendments to the
annexes to the Paris Convention. Later, ICAO made large use of regional
machinery. i.e. Regional Air Navigation Meetings and Regional Offices.

Although in
law the ICAN was placed, and remained, under the direction of League of
Nations, in practice direction was replaced by friendly cooperation. The League
never attempted to exercise any authority on the ICAN, and the ICAN never
attempted to break away from the League. Cooperation was mostly carried on
through the League’s Committee on Transit and Communications. This Committee
and the ICAN were represented at each other’s meetings, when any question of
common interest was under discussion.

Postcard with hand-stamp: Versailles / Congrès de la paix

The
Convention was ultimately ratified by 37 States, of which four countries
(Bolivia, Chile, Iran and Panama) denounced it; therefore, in all, the
Convention was in force for thirty-three States in 1940.

Probably,
the most important achievement of the Paris Convention was the creation of the
ICAN, which possessed administrative, legislative, executive and judicial
powers, as well as being an advisory body and a center of documentation. The
provisions of the Convention became part of the national legislation of the
Contracting States and proved to be an inspiration to the development of
national law in Europe which up to that time was very limited. The work of the
ICAN and its sub-commissions proved to be very helpful in the drafting of the
technical annexes to the Chicago Convention of 1944.

The postmark
on the reverse side of this postcard is dated 28 June 1919 (VERSAILLES
- CHATEAU CONGRES DE LA PAIX), date on which the
Peace Treaty of Versailles was signed by Germany and the Allied powers at the
Palace of Versailles. The Treaty of Versailles was the
peace settlement signed after World War One had ended in 1918. The Versailles
Palace was considered the most appropriate venue simply because of its size -
many hundreds of people were involved in the process and the final signing
ceremony in the Hall of Mirrors could accommodate hundreds of dignitaries. The
Treaty also established the League of Nations, an international
organization dedicated to resolving world conflicts peacefully.

ICAN was by
no means the first international organization designed to further the growth of
aviation.

Back of above postcard with date-stamp: 28 June 1919

In the
non-commercial field, the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI)
came into existence as early as 1905, as a result of a resolution passed at the
Olympic Congress at Brussels. The FAI devoted itself particularly to private
aviation, and the development of facilities for air touring had become one of
its principal concerns.

At the
initiative of the French Government, the First International
Conference of Private Air Law was convened in Paris in 1925 to
examine the question of the responsibility for the airlines and to undertake
the immense work of the coding of the private air law; the final protocol of
this Conference asked for the creation of a special committee of experts (Comité
International Technique d'Experts Juridiques Aériens,
C.I.T.E.J.A.) in charge of the continuation of the work of the Conference. Dr.
Roper was the Secretary General of the International
Conference of Air Law. The work of the C.I.T.E.J.A. was taken over by ICAO in
May 1947 with the creation of the Legal Committee.

The
International Chamber of Commerce (Chambre de Commerce Internationale,
CCI) was created at the end of the year 1920. The Chamber was created to
express the opinion deliberated on the business world. It was the body
representative of the bankers, the tradesmen and the industrialists of the
various countries; the delegates of the various branches of the economic
activity there discuss the international questions that interest them and act
in concert for a common action. It had a Transports group under the auspices
of which are discussed the aeronautical questions.

IATA Emblem

Following
the horror of the First World War, everyone was convinced that the creation of
a permanent organization was necessary to maintain world peace. As of January
1919, the Peace Conference of Versailles worked out the fundamental charter of
the Société des Nations (League of
Nations). On 28 June 1919, 44 states signed
the Covenant of the League of Nations; on 1 November 1920, the
seat of the League of Nations was transferred from London to Geneva.
The objectives of the Organization were to constitute an international forum
for the discussions carrying on questions of a political nature and legal,
about disarmament, the economic relations, the protection of the minorities,
the communications and transport, health and the questions social. One of its
Commissions treated military, naval and air questions.

In 1919, six
European airlines founded in The Hague, Netherlands, the International Air
Traffic Association (IATA) to help airlines standardize their paperwork and
passenger tickets and also help airlines compare technical procedures. The
modern IATA (International Air Transport Association), founded
in 1945 in Havana, Cuba, is the successor to the International Air Traffic
Association.

With the
first International Convention Regulating Air Navigation signed in 1919, there
is a general acceptance that 1919 was the year when the air transport industry
was born. In many countries, both domestic and international air services were
launched on a sustained basis; the first airlines capable to carry passengers,
mail and freight were established very shortly after WWI. British
aviators Alcock and Brown made the first non-stop transatlantic flight
on 14-15 June 1919; they flew a modified World War I Vickers Vimy bomber from St.
John's, Newfoundland, to Clifden, Ireland.

United
Kingdom – 26 July 1969 – First Day Cover commemorating the 50th
anniversary of Civil Aviation (1919-1969).

The cachet
and stamp show the Caernarfon Castle, a medieval
building in the north-west Wales. There was a motte-and-bailey castle in the
town of Caernarfon from the late 11th century until 1283 when King Edward I
of England began replacing it with the current stone structure.

Romania
– 13 October 1994 – 75th Anniversary of the signing of the Convention
Relating to the Regulation of Aerial Navigation (Paris Convention).

The
text in the cachet 75 DE ANI
DELA SEMNAREACONVENȚIEI DE LA PARIS13.10.1919-13.10.1994
means 75 YEARS SINCE THE
SIGNING OF THE PARIS CONVENTION 13.10.1919-13.10.1994, whereas the text
of the cancel CONVENTIUNEA INTERNATIONALA PENTRU NAVIGATIE AERIANA means INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION FOR AIR NAVIGATION.